PAX13 – The Wolf Among Us Hands-On Preview

I’ve been a fan of Bill Willingham’s Fables comic series for years and have been eagerly awaiting the release of the game based on the award winning series, The Wolf Among Us. When you first pick up the game you are struck with the similarities between this and The Walking Dead. You have the same time based response system and the same way of interacting with the environment. The most noticeable difference is the lighter mood and color scheme. While The Walking Dead was grim and colored with shades of brown and grey, The Wolf Among Us has a more fantastical feel and is colored multiple shades of purple. Fans of the comic will be thrilled to see what Bigby, the sheriff of Fabletown, was up to before the start of the series since the game is supposed to take place before the start of the series.

The demo opens with Bigby responding to a call from Mr. Toad. A discussion with the law-breaking Fable leads to stumbling upon a disturbance. Like in Telltale’s previous games, you have multiple dialogue choices like good cop, bad cop, asshole, and silence. My heart almost couldn’t take it when a little pop-up showed up in the corner saying “Mr. Toad will remember that” (I’m pretty sure Claudia would have cried). When you investigate the ruckus, you stumble upon The Woodsman beating a lady that appears to be a prostitute. After a round of fisticuffs, which was more involved than any conflicts in The Walking Dead, a brief lull in the fight allows you to try to piece together what happened before The Woodsman reattaches his broken jaw and tackles you out of his 2nd story window. An even more tense scene unfolds outside before what appears to be the event driving the story of The Wolf Among Us happens and the title screen pops up again.

If you are a fan of either Fables or The Walking Dead, then there’s no question that you’l enjoy this game. Telltale appears to have nailed the tone of the comic perfectly with its blend of mature versions of fairy tale characters everyone grew up with and winning gameplay formula. The Wolf Among Us releases on all major consoles late September/early October.